JAmes Dobson Hub

James Dobson, Focus on the Family founder and generally unpleasant individual (see that time he linked gay marriage to the Sandy Hook school shooting), has taken to the pages of his October newsletter to warn Americans that they are sliding toward irreversible damnation. Dobson attacks various judicial leaders along the way, including Towleroad favorite Richard Posner, claiming that they "are leading us toward perdition." He makes his real point, though, by comparing the United States to the biblical cities of sin, Sodom and Gomorrah.

Modernists, libertarians and atheists today recognize no condemnation of sexual perversion in the Bible. However, this historical account illustrates how God views it. The outrageous behavior of the wicked men of Sodom and Gomorrah sealed their doom. Fire and brimstone fell from the sky on both cities and utterly destroyed them. Henceforth, men who commit homosexual acts have been called “Sodomites,” although that term has become politically offensive since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized and protected sexual perversion...

One thing is certain. God is the holy Sovereign Lord of all heaven and earth, and He will not be mocked. His justice will prevail when unrestrained lust, violence, perversion, and other forms of grievous sin have run their course...

Today, I have a continuing, unrelenting burden for today’s children and young adults who are being warped and twisted by those who would “fundamentally change” the world in which they are growing up. Everything we have known and valued is being swept away.

Sorry, James. It seems the slippery slope toward Sodom that you so fear may only get slicker.

In a bizarre exchange, Dobson, who argued that bisexual people “have sex with males and females at the same time,” said:

“If men can marry and if the things that are said about same-sex relationships and marriage and the Bible are misunderstandings, what do you do with the rest of LGBT? What do you do with bisexuality? If one of those is right and proper and holy, what about those who have sex with males and females at the same time? That’s called orgies, that’s what it used to be called, or just sleeping around with everybody and it doesn’t matter. How can a Christian minister who reads the Bible condone that?”

Agreeing with Dobson, Carson argued that same-sex marriage is offensive to God:

“Well, you know, my emphasis is that marriage is an institution established by God himself...So when you start distorting that, you’re really going pretty deep into the finger-in-your-eye to God. That’s why I have a hard time understanding why ministers are willing to do that.”

Over two hundred Christian anti-gay activists and organizations have signed a letter threatening to ignore any upcoming Supreme Court ruling favoring gay marriage. The letter, filled with inflammatory rhetoric, has been signed by a "who's who" of anti-gay bigots including Dr. Ben Carson, Tony Perkins, Bill Donohue, Bishop Harry Jackson, James Dobson, and Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern. Additionally, Southern Poverty Law Center designated "hate groups" such as American Family Association and Family Research Council have also signed on.

From the letter:

"As Christian citizens united together, we will not stand by while the destruction of the institution of marriage unfolds in this nation we love. The Sacred Scriptures and unbroken teaching of the Church confirm that marriage is between one man and one woman. We stand together in solidarity to defend marriage and the family and society founded upon them. The effort to redefine marriage threatens the proper mediating role of the Church in society."

Our country really does seem in complete disarray. I'm not talking politically, I'm not talking about the result of the November sixth election; I am saying that something has gone wrong in America and that we have turned our back on God.

I mean millions of people have decided that God doesn't exist, or he's irrelevant to me and we have killed fifty-four million babies and the institution of marriage is right on the verge of a complete redefinition. Believe me, that is going to have consequences too.

And a lot of these things are happening around us, and somebody is going to get mad at me for saying what I am about to say right now, but I am going to give you my honest opinion: I think we have turned our back on the Scripture and on God Almighty and I think he has allowed judgment to fall upon us. I think that's what's going on.

Today, more than 150 American Evangelical leaders gathered at a ranch in Texas to solve, once and for all, The Romney Problem.

After watching in disgust and horror as moderate Republicans united behind Mitt Romney, and conservatives and Evangelicals split their votes between three and occasionally four candidates (Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, and very occasionally Rick Perry), conservative worthies gathered this morning at the ranch of Paul and Nancy Pressler for a gathering organized by Republican bigwigs and professional homophobes James Dobson, Donald E. Wildmon, and Tony Perkins, among others, to decide who shall be the official anti-Romney unity candidate.

Their choice: Rick Santorum.

Ron Paul never had a chance, because he doesn't want to regulate the nation's genitals. Picking Newt Gingrich would have been safer politics, but Newt's not not righteous and they know it. Rick Perry's got the grit, the record, and the look, but he couldn't get elected dog catcher outside Texas. So it's Santorum. From The New York Times:

The field was narrowed to Mr. Santorum and Mr. Gingrich after the first vote. By the third ballot, Mr. Perkins said, 114 people voted, with Mr. Santorum receiving 85 votes to 29 for Mr. Gingrich.

Mr. Perkins declined to explain why participants moved toward Mr. Santorum, other than to praise his consistent record on social and economic issues. In the discussions, Mr. Perkins said, participants were as concerned about repealing Mr. Obama’s health care law and fighting the national debt as they were about abortion and same-sex marriage.

And many evangelicals have said they are bothered not only by Mr. Gingrich’s three marriages, but by his attacks on Mr. Romney’s work in private equity, which they believe amounts to attacks on free enterprise.

But there was no consensus. Several of the worthies still support Gingrich, and there's no telling whether the newsly minted Santora (Santorumites?) will have a tangible influence on voters. As the Times notes:

Evangelicals tend to be better informed and more independent that they were a generation ago, when the endorsement from a leader like Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson held huge sway, said Rev. Paul Jimenez, pastor of Taylors First Baptist Church in Greenville, S.C.

“People will take note of what the leaders say, but the days are gone when you could stand up and say this is our guy,” said Mr. Jimenez, who previously worked in Washington for the late Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina. “Evangelicals have so many voices now.”

The Evangelicals have just one Sunday church service in which to get out the Santorum vote ahead of the South Carolina primary next Saturday.

Focus on the Family lackey complains that Apple is forcing people to think like it does be rejecting anti-gay apps from The Manhattan Declaration and Exodus International.

Jeremy Hooper notes the hypocrisy: "The Manhattan Declaration app comes out against 'a right to engage in immoral sexual practices,' and features a whole host of 'pro-family' signatories lashing out those who fall out of line with their evangelical beliefs. And Exodus International is a program solely focused -- SOLEY. FOCUSED -- on using scientifically-discredited methodology to turn gays into some sort of flux state known as an 'ex-gay.' The whole vibe of both programs: Think like I think, diversity of the world be damned! Incidentally, the same vibe that's steered Focus on the Family for several decades now."